Understanding Meditation & Higher Consciousness

Thank you Dr Deepak Chopra for narrating this outstanding video production in such a fine manner. I remember you are a long-time meditator in the Transcendental tradition; which is part of the more than 6000-years-old Vedantic tradition.

Viewers won't find any religion here as such; no Saviors, nobody dying for anyone's sins, no miracles, no resurrections and the like. But what they will find is great wisdom and knowledge, distilled from vast, ancient Eastern experience, and imparted so expertly by the good Doctor.

One of the topics that Eckhart (Tolle) and I discussed in our conversation was how effortless meditation should be, that no striving or concentration is needed. Some of you might be surprised when you first hear this. I know I was. When I first began meditation, I was repeatedly told that it took great mental discipline and many years of practice.

And my experience appeared to confirm it. My mind was full of thoughts, and try as I may, I could not keep them at bay. Like many others, I naturally assumed that I was not trying hard enough; I needed greater mental discipline, not less.

But over the years, I’ve come to appreciate that a quiet mind is not a state of mind to be achieved. It is the state we experience when there is nothing to be achieved. It is the mind in its natural condition, untarnished by fears and desires, and the thoughts they create. When everything is OK in our world, we feel OK inside; we are at ease. Or rather, that is the way it should be.

Yet, even when all our physical needs are met, and there is no immediate threat or danger, we seldom feel at ease. More often than not, the very opposite. Leave us with nothing to do, and most of us start getting bored. If someone upsets us, we may hold a grievance days, weeks, or even years after the event. Or we may spend hours worrying about situations that could occur, but seldom do.

Along with such feelings come an almost endless procession of thoughts. Most of these thoughts boil down to worries about how we can be more at peace. Yet, ironically, a worried mind is, by definition, not at peace. This is the sad joke about human beings. We are so busy worrying whether or not we are going to be at peace in the future, we don’t give ourselves the chance to be at peace in the present.

Given how easily such thoughts arise, it is easy to assume they must be subdued and controlled. But that approach stems from the same belief that created them—the belief that we need to be in control of things in order to feel at peace. As a variety of meditation traditions have revealed, a more effective approach is to accept that thoughts occur and learn how to work with them.

Such approaches might be best summarized as:

When you realize you have been caught in a thought, don’t judge or blame yourself. It happens, even to the most experienced meditators.

Instead of following the thought, as you might do in normal life, gently shift your attention back to some experience in the present moment. In TM that may be the thought of a mantra, in mindfullness the sensation of the breath, or in other practices a visual image, a feeling of love, or the presence of self.

Let your attention rest in that experience. Don’t try to concentrate or hold it there. Ah yes, you will be sure to wander off again. But the practice is not learning how to stay present, but how to return to the present.

Even then, trying and effort can arise in subtle ways. Maybe if I just added this or focused on that, it would be easier. Some of it is so subtle that we don’t even notice we are doing it. A faint resistance to an experience perhaps. Even a slight wanting to have a good meditation can get in the way.

Ms. Ttthreee a Ballerina

"New Study Links Meditation to Wisdom

"A new study has found an association between meditation and wisdom.

"Researchers with the University of Chicago's Department of Psychology have found that meditation, and physical practices such as ballet, might lead to increased wisdom. The study, 'The Relationship between Mental and Somatic Practices and Wisdom,' was published in PLOS ONE.

"The researchers gave 298 participants a survey that asked about their experiences practicing meditation, the Alexander Technique (a method for improving posture, balance, coordination, and movement), the Feldenkrais Method (a form of somatic education that seeks to improve movement and physical function, reduce pain, and increase self-awareness), and classical ballet. The participants also answered psychological exams related to various elements of wisdom, such as empathy and anxiety.

"The team found that individuals who practiced meditation had characteristics associated with wisdom more often than the other groups. The types of meditation being practiced include vipassana, mindfulness, and Buddhist. The researchers also found that participants who practiced ballet had the lowest levels of wisdom, but with consistent practice of ballet individuals scored higher on measures of psychological traits typically associated with wisdom.

"'The link between ballet and wisdom is mysterious to us and something that we're already investigating further,' said Patrick B. Williams, lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Chicago's Department of Psychology. Williams plans to monitor practitioners of both meditation and ballet for months and years to study the results over a longer period of time.

"Williams also said that he believed this study to be the first to look at the possible link between physical practices and the cultivation of wisdom. Howard Nusbaum, professor of psychology, is a lead investigator in a research project on somatic wisdom. Nusbaum believes that understanding wisdom will lead to greater insights."